Search form

Search form

Oil and natural gas companies will be given until Jan. 1, 2015, to acquire and install new equipment to limit emissions at natural gas wells, the Environmental Protection Agency said as it introduced new emissions-reduction rules. "This phased approach will provide time for industry to order and manufacture enough equipment as well as train personnel to conduct green completions," said EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy. "Clearly, we needed the phase-in period," said Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute.

Related Summaries

Wyoming officials are examining the Environmental Protection Agency's emissions-reduction rules for oil and natural gas wells, and they say drillers are already required to follow similar policies in the state. "Wyoming is really out in front with the majority of this stuff," said John Robitaille, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. Gov. Matt Mead said that the EPA should have allowed states to be the sole regulators of drilling.

The Environmental Protection Agency should give oil and natural gas companies more time to comply with an emissions-reduction policy governing natural gas drilling operations, industry groups said. Emissions-cutting equipment isn't widely available enough to satisfy the rule, which is set to be implemented next week, said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. "The equipment required to reduce these emissions is not produced on an assembly line where someone can instantly ramp up production. It must be carefully built one-by-one in machine shops, and this takes time," said Howard Feldman, API's director of regulatory and scientific affairs.

The issuance of proposed emissions rules covering oil and natural gas drilling operations will be delayed for about two weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency said, adding that more time is needed to study input from the public. The proposed rules could slow drilling using hydraulic fracturing, because companies won't be able to acquire the necessary emissions-reduction equipment immediately, according to the American Petroleum Institute. "I want to be clear that we are not opposing the rule but stating that the rule needs to change in key areas to avoid negative impacts to domestic production and job creation," said Jack Gerard, API's president and CEO.

Unconventional drilling activities could decline over the next couple of years if the Environmental Protection Agency moves forward with proposed oil and natural gas production emission rules, according to an American Petroleum Institute-commissioned study. Purchasing and installing equipment to mitigate drilling emissions would also boost costs for energy companies, the report stated. "EPA needs to fix these rules so they reduce emissions yet are still compatible with oil and natural gas development that creates jobs [and] government revenue and improves our energy security," said Howard Feldman, director of scientific and regulatory affairs at API.

U.S. refiners could suffer because of proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations covering Tier 3 gasoline, greenhouse-gas emissions and new sources' performance standards, said Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute. "While the specific elements of these have not all been set forth, they could constitute a veritable tsunami of added requirements that could put some refineries out of business, diminish U.S. fuel-manufacturing capacity and increase our reliance on imported fuels," Feldman said.